Foreign Policy Committee Sings Praise to Slovenia's OSCE Role
The parliamentary foreign policy committee unanimously concluded that Slovenia's international reputation has been greatly enhanced by the country's stint as the chair of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Committee members also agreed at their Wednesday's session that Slovenia has contributed to major shifts in the functioning of the organisation.
Nine of the ten committee members also concluded that Slovenia has been successful in tackling the issues of naming the organisation's secretary-general, solving the OSCE budgetary problems, and in stabilising several regions in OSCE members.
Such an opinion was also endorsed by FM Dimitrij Rupel, the current chair of the OSCE. He added that 30 foreign ministers from OSCE countries have already confirmed their participation in the OSCE's December ministerial in Ljubljana.
According to Rupel, Slovenia is to "honourably conclude its chairmanship" and can look back proudly at its achievements in carrying out the organisation's reforms.
Darja Lavtizar Bebler of the major opposition Liberal Democrats (LDS), on the other hand, wanted to know the "added value" Slovenia brought into chairing the OSCE.
Rupel responded by saying that Slovenia became a household name among the world's most important countries "from Vladivostok to Vancouver". It has facilitated democratic change in Kyrgyzstan and is currently holding talks on solving the conflict between Georgia and its breakaway republic of Ossetia.
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